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CAVALRY AGAIN COMING INTO ITS OWN Army Strategists Seem Agreed that Elaborate Trench Warfare Is Tiling of Past With the brilliant success attending the initial strokes of the master tactician Marshal Focli now history and the retrograde movement of the Ger ¬ man armies in France fairly well established mili ¬ tary authorities seem agreed that the elaborate method of trench warfare which reached its high ¬ est development in the socalled Hindenburg line is a thing of the past Complicated underground defenses reouire a great deal of time for their con ¬ struction and with the fighting pace growing faster as the allied advance gains momentum the necessity for mobility becomes more and more vital vitalThe The most mobile tactical unit at the command of any majorgeneral is of course the cavalry Hardly a day has passed since the great allied offensive began that has not seen entente cavalry in contact with the enemy at one or more points As the fighting becomes more open in character cavalry operations become more extended extendedUntil Until a little over a month ago when the bril ¬ liant strategy ofMnrshal Foch coupled with timely American reinforcements turned the tide on the western front mounted troops did most of their fighting on foot The peculiar swingalong spirit of the cavalryman however makes him loath to dismount and fight though his ability to fight dismounted has always been recognized as the qroxVning achievement of American cavalrymen cavalrymenThe The popular conception of cavalry has always been a regiment of smartlymounted trocars who charge a position and returning victorious are not heard from until the next encounter Xo impression jonld be more erroneous for even in the case of deadlocked armies cavalry is of incalculable value to any commanding general While it is not ex ¬ pected to engage like infantry in the long gruel ¬ ing advance upon intrenched positions the func ¬ tions of cavalry are so manifold that the spectacu ¬ lar charge is only an incident incidentFundamentally Fundamentally the cavalry like the artillery is an auxiliary arm The infantry is the army and its success or defeat decides the ultimate issue though cavalry may I e called upon in a last desper ¬ ate attempt to save the day When such is the case the necessity of mounts capable of great speed and endurance becomes evident for after reaching their destination the horses must still be in prime condi ¬ tion for thesiipreme test History records innumer ¬ able instances of armies saved from utter annihila ¬ tion by cavalry whose mounts were still capable of a dashing charge at the close of a hopeless day dayQuick Quick work demands cavalry and operations such as seizing a position and holding it until the in ¬ fantry arrives smashing in an unexpected attack on i flank fighting a bitter delaying action in the rear guard alone or in conjunction with the fire action of machine guns and horse artillery are all a part of the days program
